Chapter Three

A rock concert turned into
carnage last night when an audience member opened fire on an unsuspecting crowd
at the London Astoria, with at least one reported fatality.

Fans of US outfit Bright
Eyes were left horrified by the incident, which took place shortly after
10pm.A 22 year old man was arrested on
site on suspicion of murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger
life.He was removed from the building
without a struggle, shrouded in a hood to protect his identity, and taken to
Charing Cross Police Station for questioning.

A motive for the shooting
has yet to be ascertained.

Daily
Reader reporter Cameron Greaves witnessed the attack first
hand.“It was chaos.I don’t think anyone realised he had a
gun.The first anyone knew of it when
the victim fell to the floor in a pool of blood.People were running for their lives,
desperate to get away, fearing that they were going to be involved in a British
Columbine.

“The man with the gun looked
deranged.I caught a good look at him as
we were ushered out.He definitely knew
what he was doing.

“People were obviously very
shocked, a lot of people were in tears.Everyone seems astounded.It’s
not the sort of event where you’d expect guns – even if gun crime is on the
rise.”

Managers of the venue are
holding emergency talks on security measures for future events, and have
announced that they will be closed until further notice.

The man arrested is likely
to appear before Magistrates on Monday morning.

Full
story inside

“I don’t see why the story
shouldn’t be written by me.It’ll give
us the edge, Karl.No other paper had a
journalist on the scene, did they?”

“This
is a big story, is why,” Karl replied.“They would never agree to let a junior take the lead.They don’t pay me to shy away from the
headline grabbers.”

Cameron
stifled thirty-three disparaging comebacks to that remark.He was furious that his big chance was being
deftly swiped away from him.He knew how
the system worked, and he knew that he had to do the groundwork as expected,
but this was different.He had his own
eyewitness account, and that should grant him the story.

Karl
walked away, feeling triumphant, regaining control.Cameron had had a spring in his step as he
bounced around the office regaling the night-shift with his dramatic tale,
offering much better quotes than were being printed.The feeling that his power was slipping away
from him vanished, albeit for only a second.

“I
could always sell my story to another paper,” Cameron called after Karl and
immediately he knew he was defeated.